The Astrophysical Journal (Jan 2024)
UNCOVER NIRSpec/PRISM Spectroscopy Unveils Evidence of Early Core Formation in a Massive, Centrally Dusty Quiescent Galaxy at z spec = 3.97
- David J. Setton,
- Gourav Khullar,
- Tim B. Miller,
- Rachel Bezanson,
- Jenny E. Greene,
- Katherine A. Suess,
- Katherine E. Whitaker,
- Jacqueline Antwi-Danso,
- Hakim Atek,
- Gabriel Brammer,
- Sam E. Cutler,
- Pratika Dayal,
- Robert Feldmann,
- Seiji Fujimoto,
- Lukas J. Furtak,
- Karl Glazebrook,
- Andy D. Goulding,
- Vasily Kokorev,
- Ivo Labbe,
- Joel Leja,
- Yilun Ma,
- Danilo Marchesini,
- Themiya Nanayakkara,
- Richard Pan,
- Sedona H. Price,
- Jared C. Siegel,
- Heath Shipley,
- John R. Weaver,
- Pieter van Dokkum,
- Bingjie Wang,
- Christina C. Williams
Affiliations
- David J. Setton
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA ; [email protected]
- Gourav Khullar
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Tim B. Miller
- ORCiD
- Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA), Northwestern University , 1800 Sherman Ave, Evanston, IL 60201, USA
- Rachel Bezanson
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Jenny E. Greene
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA ; [email protected]
- Katherine A. Suess
- ORCiD
- Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and Department of Physics, Stanford University , Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Katherine E. Whitaker
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA; Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN) , Denmark
- Jacqueline Antwi-Danso
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA; David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada; Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto , 50 St George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3H4, Canada
- Hakim Atek
- ORCiD
- Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, Sorbonne Université , 98bis Boulevard Arago, 75014, Paris, France
- Gabriel Brammer
- ORCiD
- Cosmic Dawn Center (DAWN), Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen , Jagtvej 128, København N, DK-2200, Denmark
- Sam E. Cutler
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Pratika Dayal
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- Robert Feldmann
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysics, University of Zurich , Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
- Seiji Fujimoto
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, TX 78712, USA
- Lukas J. Furtak
- ORCiD
- Physics Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev , P.O. Box 653, Be’er-Sheva 84105, Israel
- Karl Glazebrook
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
- Andy D. Goulding
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA ; [email protected]
- Vasily Kokorev
- ORCiD
- Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen , 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands
- Ivo Labbe
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia
- Joel Leja
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Yilun Ma
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA ; [email protected]
- Danilo Marchesini
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Tufts University , MA 02155, USA
- Themiya Nanayakkara
- ORCiD
- Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology , PO Box 218, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
- Richard Pan
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, Tufts University , MA 02155, USA
- Sedona H. Price
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and PITT PACC, University of Pittsburgh , Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
- Jared C. Siegel
- ORCiD
- Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University , 4 Ivy Lane, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA ; [email protected]
- Heath Shipley
- ORCiD
- Department of Physics, Texas State University , San Marcos, TX 78666, USA
- John R. Weaver
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts , Amherst, MA 01003, USA
- Pieter van Dokkum
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy, Yale University , New Haven, CT 06511, USA
- Bingjie Wang
- ORCiD
- Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Computational & Data Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA; Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Christina C. Williams
- ORCiD
- NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory , 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad6a18
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 974,
no. 1
p. 145
Abstract
We report the spectroscopic confirmation of a massive ( $\mathrm{log}({M}_{\star }/{M}_{\odot })=10.34{\pm }_{0.07}^{0.06}$ ), Hubble Space Telescope–dark ( m _F150W − m _F444W = 3.6) quiescent galaxy at z _spec = 3.97 in the UNCOVER survey. NIRSpec/PRISM spectroscopy and a nondetection in deep Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array imaging surprisingly reveals that the galaxy is consistent with a low (<10 M _⊙ yr ^−1 ) star formation rate (SFR) despite evidence for moderate dust attenuation. The F444W image is well modeled with a two-component Sérsic fit that favors a compact, r _e ∼ 200 pc, n ∼ 2.9 component and a more extended, r _e ∼ 1.6 kpc, n ∼ 1.7 component. The galaxy exhibits strong color gradients: the inner regions are significantly redder than the outskirts. Spectral energy distribution models that reproduce both the red colors and low SFR in the center of UNCOVER 18407 require both significant ( A _v ∼ 1.4 mag) dust attenuation and a stellar mass-weighted age of 900 Myr, implying 50% of the stars in the core already formed by z = 7.5. Using spatially resolved annular mass-to-light measurements enabled by the galaxy’s moderate magnification ( $\mu =2.12{\pm }_{0.01}^{0.05}$ ) to reconstruct a radial mass profile from the best-fitting two-component Sérsic model, we infer a total mass-weighted ${r}_{\mathrm{eff}}=0.74{\pm }_{0.17}^{0.22}$ kpc and log $({{\rm{\Sigma }}}_{1\ \mathrm{kpc}}\ [{M}_{\odot }\,{\mathrm{kpc}}^{-2}])=9.65{\pm }_{0.15}^{0.12}$ . The early formation of a dense, low SFR, and dusty core embedded in a less attenuated stellar envelope suggests an evolutionary link between the earliest-forming massive galaxies and their elliptical descendants. Furthermore, the disparity between the global, integrated dust properties and the spatially resolved gradients highlights the importance of accounting for radially varying stellar populations when characterizing the early growth of galaxy structure.
Keywords
- High-redshift galaxies
- Galaxy quenching
- Galaxy evolution
- Quenched galaxies
- Post-starburst galaxies
- Near infrared astronomy
